I Just Broke Up With the Avatar
by unicornhime
Summary: Post Book 2 Episode Five. Mako struggles with the consequences of his fight with Korra


"I just broke up with the Avatar."

Mako's own words rang in his ears, barely aware of Lin's brand of dry sympathy. He broke up with Korra. He couldn't believe it. He loved her, she was amazing, he was lucky to have her. How could he have spoken so rashly?

He needed to talk to her again, as soon as the both of them cooled down. Of course, _he'd_ lost his fire as soon as he saw the tears in her eyes.

Korra never cried in front of him. There'd been moments in the past where he'd known she'd been crying before he walked in, but she had always been quick to brush it aside. He knew she hated appearing weak. So to see her almost break right there in the middle of the station shattered him.

Beifong dismissed him after only another hour of work, claiming he was a "useless heartbroken rookie" and no use to her. He didn't care. He changed out of his uniform and rushed out of there as fast as his legs could carry him.

He went to his apartment first, a tiny part of him daring to hope that maybe Korra was waiting for him there. That flicker sparked when he saw Naga sleeping under the fire escape and he pounded up the stairs.

He threw the door open. "Korra?"

Bolin looked up with a start. "She's not here."

Mako frowned. "Then why is Naga downstairs?"

"Oh right, Korra asked me to watch her while she went to the Fire Nation."

"The Fire Nation? Why is Korra going to the Fire Nation?" Mako clenched his jaw, his patience growing thin as he dragged the information bit by bit from his brother.

Bolin filled him in on her plan to get additional support, then realized why Mako was so upset. "Oh, uh, did Korra find you, by the way? President Raiko -"

"Yeah, she found me," Mako cut him off and scowled. So that was how she knew.

" Is…everything okay?"

"We broke up. So no, everything is not okay." Mako slammed the door to their room with a huff. He didn't want to talk to Bolin anymore. He didn't want to talk to anyone but Korra.

—-

He called in sick the next day, his first time ever. He simply couldn't bring himself to leave the apartment. What if Korra came back?

What if she didn't?

The next 24 hours passed in a blur of nightmare-riddled sleep, bouts of staring at the door, one long conversation with Naga, and more alcohol than Mako cared to admit.

Korra still wasn't back.

—-

Mako threw himself into his work. He worked the shifts no one else wanted, he stayed at the station when he was off-duty, he had to be reminded to eat. He wasn't going to let himself waste this opportunity at a good job and a chance to make a difference in the city.

Beifong noticed.

She never said anything to him about it, but she stopped calling him Rookie. She listened to his theory on the bombing suspect. She told off his fellow officers for hazing him - though as she put it they were "wasting time and embarrassing the force."

He rarely saw Bolin. His younger brother was busy with Varrick and his movers, anyway, Mako reasoned. And he'd been the one to spill the beans to Korra in the first place.

Mako did feel guilty about thinking that last part, though. It wasn't Bolin's fault Mako had made the choice he had. And Mako would make the same choice again if push came to shove. Granted, he would have talked to Korra himself first, but he wouldn't lie to the president.

Korra shouldn't expect him to.

And he suspected she knew it, too.

He just needed to talk to her.

—-

A week without Korra passed and he felt it in his bones. He missed her laugh, her fierce scowl, the way she argued with him, the way she fit into his arms so perfectly. He missed her.

But she was still wrong.

—-

Another week and Asami was the one to talk to him about it. "Bolin's worried about you," she said, "And I am, too."

"I'm fine," he replied curtly, wondering why Bolin was talking to her about him."

"You are _not_ fine and you know it." Asami put her hands on her hips. "You're working yourself half to death -"

"I've almost cracked this case -" he interrupted, but Asami continued as if she hadn't heard him.

"- Your brother says you don't sleep. You're not talking to anyone. Mako, I know your job is important to you, but aren't the people who care about you, too?"

Mako flinched.

"Korra will be back soon," she said gently. "You know she's too proud to be the first one to apologize."

"So I should? I wasn't the one who didn't do anything wrong!"

Asami raised a delicate eyebrow.

Mako glared at her.

"She was in a vulnerable spot, and you know her - better than anyone - you know how she hates being helpless. She felt betrayed." She held up a hand as Mako opened his mouth to argue. "I know you didn't mean to do it. But that's how she felt. And then you yelled and broke up with her, rather than man up and talk to her about it, or explained like a rational human being."

Mako closed his mouth.

"You _hurt_ her, Mako." Asami fixed her determined green eyes on his. "Shouldn't that be your biggest concern?"

—-

A third week passed and Mako was numb. He'd done a lot of thinking since his conversation with Asami. He realized why Korra was so upset. He realized he was scared, and that's why he'd been so quick to break it off. Six months was a long time, the longest relationship he'd ever been in, and he was scared of losing her. So the first chance he got, he'd pushed her away.

Now he wanted her back.

But she was no where to be found.

—-

A month. A full month had gone by with Korra ripped from his life, and he didn't know what to do.

The bombing case was over, the criminals in jail, Mako's part done. It had been one of the triads after all, thought the Agni Kai's swore they only did it because some bigwig paid them to. No one believed them - they were notorious for blowing things up for their own amusement.

Tensions were still growing between the Northern and Southern Tribes as well as brief scuffles that never did anything but get tempers up and people hurt.

Mako was worried about Korra now. There had been no word from her or any potential assistance from the Fire Nation, and she should have been back a week ago. It wasn't like her to just disappear.

Whispers started in the city, remembering the last time an Avatar disappeared, abandoning the world during the Hundred Years War.

Mako punched anyone who dared say something to him about it.

—-

Surprisingly, it was Unalaq who broke the Avatar's silence.

He'd returned to the North, but his troops still held a strong presence in the South. Mako didn't know where Tonraq and his men were.

Once Mako heard the news, he didn't think he wanted to know.

It was in all the papers. According to Unalaq, Korra was with him. In exchange for his promise not to harm her people, she promised to be his spiritual tool.

Mako couldn't believe it, and burned his paper to ash.

—-

Five weeks, three days, and approximately eighteen hours after Korra left, Mako heard the paper boys cry out the breaking news as he patrolled the streets.

"Avatar Korra Dead! Get your paper! Explosion in the North kills hundreds!"

Mako swayed on the spot, nearly sinking to his knees in despair, and immediately raced over and seized one the papers.

His eyes raced over the words, their meanings jumbled and nonsensical. Korra couldn't be dead.

She just couldn't be.

—-

The memorial service in Republic City was held two days later. The president spoke, as did Chief Beifong and Tenzin. Some shops closed in honor of the fallen Avatar's memory. It was reported that half the city attended.

Mako was not one of them.

—-

He asked for a leave of absence.

Beifong's face softened in a rare expression of compassion. "I can only give you a couple weeks, tops, kid. I know it hurts, but you've still got people relying on you. I don't want you to quit on us."

"I'm going to the North," he said, his voice as cold as his unfeeling eyes. "I need to know what happened. I don't trust Unalaq."

Beifong studied him for a long time. Then, she sighed. "Just don't go alone."

—-

He spent all of what he'd managed to save so far on tickets for himself and Bolin to go north. He didn't care about the money anymore.

He'd never been there before, but once he arrived, it was clear things were…not right. People were going about their daily business, and if he didn't know any better, he never would have known there was a war going on.

No one mentioned an explosion. No one spoke of the Avatar's death.

Something was very wrong.

—-

He spent days putting his cop skills to the test, interviewing people, stalking outside the palace and along the ports, and keeping an eye out for anything that might give him a clue to what was really going on. Bolin helped, surprising Mako with his enthusiasm.

"I care about Korra, too," Bolin said. "I want to find her just as much as you do. You're right, something just doesn't add up."

All signs pointed to Unalaq being up to no good. Why would he lie about an explosion? What would he accomplish by saying the Avatar was dead? When would he use this misinformation?

And when would he attack again?

—-

Honestly, Mako didn't care about the war.

He only cared about finding Korra.

—-

They'd reached a dead end. Unalaq left the North, presumable in search of new allies, and there was nothing left for Mako and Bolin to do there. There were no signs of Korra, and really no signs that she'd ever been there in the first place.

So they returned to Republic City with heavy hearts and weary souls. Once they docked, Bolin immediately went to Varrick's to see if there'd been any developments while they'd been away and to pick Naga up. Varrick had wanted to try filming the polar bear dog while they were away.

Mako just wanted to sleep.

He climbed the creaking staircase, one hand fumbling in his pocket for his key. He unlocked the door with a soft click, and opened it.

Korra's bright blue eyes greeted him from the couch.

Mako stared in disbelief. "Korra," he whispered, his voice hoarse and cracking on the latter part of her name.

She gave him a half smile, a cautious thing, one side of her mouth quirked up. "Hey, Mako. I wanted to talk to _oomph_!"

He scooped her up in a hug so quickly and so roughly that it knocked the wind out of her. His arms wrapped around her waist and he buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the glorious _realness_ of her.

Korra hesitated, but returned his hug with equal fervor, her feet leaving the ground as Mako held her close. She pressed her cheek against his, running one hand across his scalp, combing his hair with her fingers.

"Everyone said you were dead," he whispered, his voice raising goosebumps along the skin of her neck. "I thought I lost you for good. I'm so sorry. I love you so much."

Korra twisted to look him in the eye. "Said I was dead?" she parroted back to him. "Why?"

"Korra, you've been gone for nearly two months."

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh."

_"Oh?"_

"I was in the Spirit World. I guess time passes differently there."

His jaw was tight. "I guess so." Then he shook his head. "I don't want to fight with you. Not now. Not when I thought I would never see you again." He pulled them both down to the couch, Korra half on his lap. He picked up her hands and she shifted to a more comfortable position. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I didn't mean to, I was only trying to do what was right."

"Mako," she said gently. "I know that now. You could say I've had a bit of an eye-opening experience," she said, her voice dry with the sound of an inside joke. She pulled one hand away to brush away a tear on Mako's cheek he hadn't even been away of. He realized Korra's eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as well.

"Does that mean you'll be my girlfriend again?"

She laughed. "You're sure you want me? I'm kind of high maintenance, surprisingly."

He didn't laugh at her joke. "I'm sure. I've never wanted anything more. When you were gone, I felt like a pieces of me were missing. I thought I'd just go back to who I was before I met you, but I didn't. I missed you so much it hurt. When I said we should break up, I was scared. I was scared of losing you, of hurting you, of not being enough for you, of everything."

"Mako," she chided gently.

"I know. I've played that fight over and over again in my mind, picking it apart, wonder how I could've done things differently. But it doesn't matter now. It happened. I learned my lesson. I need to be honest with you." He looked her carefully in the eyes, his golden eyes warm and pleading. "My job is still important to me, like yours is to you. But you are the most important thing in my life."

"I shouldn't have blown up at you like that," Korra admitted. "I know now you were just trying to do what you felt was right. I can't promise that I won't get caught up in the moment and get angry again. I have a lot depending on me, and sometimes it gets to me."

"I know." He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "It's a tough job, being the Avatar's boyfriend."

"Are you up to it?" She whispered, her eyes searching his, their faces inches apart.

"Of course I am."

"Good." She flashed a wide smile. "Because I don't want anyone else." He closed the distance between them with a lip bruising kiss. He yanked her forward so she was straddling his lap, then framed her face with feathery gentle hands, suddenly afraid she would shatter at his touch.

But Korra was never one to shatter. Crack, bend, chip, but never shatter. She kissed him back eagerly and whole-heartedly, pouring every emotion into her touch.

They'd figure the rest out later. Together.


End file.
